Flying Shields Of The Hopi Kachinas

From: UFO UpDates - Toronto <ufoupdates.nul>
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 08:27:33 -0500
Fwd Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 08:27:33 -0500
Subject: Flying Shields Of The Hopi Kachinas
Source: Fate Magazine - Lakeville, Minnesota, USA
http://www.fatemag.com/issues/2000s/2007-01article2.html
The Flying Shields Of The Hopi Kachinas
By Gary David
FATE :: January 2007
Ancient flying machines have long been a tradition of many
cultures across the globe. Venerable Hindu texts such as the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata describe airships called vimanas
that were even used for battle. Among the hieroglyphs on the
wall of a 3,000 year-old Egyptian temple at Abydos are
depictions of what appear to be modern airplanes and
helicopters. Grooved stone discs found in caves on the Chinese-
Tibetan border tell of an extraterrestrial race called the
Dropas whose spacecraft fell to Earth 12,000 years ago.
The Hopi Indians have inhabited three large mesas in northern
Arizona for over a thousand years. Their legends also refer to
aerial vehicles. These magical flying shields called paatuwvota
existed in the Third World, a previous epoch destroyed by an
immense flood. This was a time when great cities and trade
routes were built, and civilization was flourishing. In an
address delivered to the United Nations, Thomas Banyacya of the
Hopi Coyote Clan said: "The people invented many machines and
conveniences of high technology, some of which have not yet been
seen in this age." We, of course, recognize this startling
description as echoing Atlantis.
In one legend the flying shield is associated with Sotuknang,
the Hopi sky god. A devastating flood had destroyed
Palatkwapi=97"the red city to the south," possibly located in the
red rock country near Sedona, Arizona. Shortly afterwards a boy
named Tiwahongva and his sister Tawiayisnima, who were forgotten
in the chaos and left behind by their fleeing parents, set out
on a journey to find them.
In the evening they decided to make camp. They were just opening
their bundle for dinner when they heard a great roar overhead.
The children were very frightened, wondering what this strange
thing could be. The brother held his sister tightly to his
breast as a fantastic being descended from the heavens. He was
wearing a costume that glittered like ice (silver?) while his
head and face shone like a star. He spoke: "Do not be afraid. My
name is Sotuknang. Because of my sympathy for your plight, I
have come to help you. Get on my paatuwvota and let us be on our
way."
He then took them on his flying shield up into the sky so that
they could see for many miles around. Feeding the hungry
children ripe melons, he told them that they must have faith in
him and in his teachings that would later arrive through their
dreams. Finally he landed a short distance from the village in
which their mother and father had settled, bid the young ones
farewell, and flew up again into the clouds. Forever grateful to
the sky god, the brother and sister walked into the village to
be reunited with their parents.
Because the Hopis had no such thing as a saucer, flying or
otherwise, they named it after the cultural accouterment closest
to that shape, namely, the warrior=92s shield. The word tuwvota
specifically signifies this type of shield. Oddly, the concept
of war is connected in Hopi ideology with the stars. The use of
tuwvota rather than the more common word for "disk" or "circle"
thus suggests a celestial origin for the paatuwvota.
Since the Hopi term paa means "water," paatuwvota possibly
refers to the expanding concentric rings in water. This might be
a metaphorical description for the way the peculiar airborne
device appeared to function. The related word patuka, or
"spindle," may also describe the shield=92s spinning motion. In
addition, the prefix pa- denotes wonder or awe. For the people
of the desert, water equals wonder, but pa- perhaps suggests the
reaction to this extraordinary means of transportation.
The tradition of the flying shield also appears in rock art. In
Mexico Mystique, Frank Waters, a non-Indian expert on the Hopis,
writes: "On Second Mesa near Mishongnovi an ancient petroglyph
depicts a dome-shaped object resting on an arrow which
represents travel through space, and the head of a Hopi maiden
who represents pristine purity. As the Hopis believe that other
planets are inhabited, this petroglyph represents a paatuwvota
or a =91flying shield=92 similar to a =91flying saucer=92 that came here
in the Beginning. So now at the End the sacred ones will arrive
from another planet, said to be Venus, by flying saucers. Many
Hopi traditionalists recently have reported seeing flying
saucers, all piloted by beings they call kachinas." .....
Read the rest of this article in the January 2007 issue of FATE:
http://tinyurl.com/yxu9by
[Thanks to Stuart Miller of http://uforeview.net/]